WASHINGTON â Even millennials donât think much of their generation, according to a new poll Thursday.
A Pew Research Center study showed that millennials â generally defined as those ages 18-34 â had far more negative views of their generation compared to Generation Xers, baby boomers or other age groups. More than half of millennials, 59 percent, described their generation as âself-absorbed,â while almost half â or 49 percent â said they were âwasteful,â and 43 percent said they were âgreedy.â
Around 30 percent of Generation Xers â those ages 35-50 â said their own generation was self-absorbed and wasteful, and 20 percent of the baby boomers said the same about their age cohort.
Millennials âstand out in their willingness to ascribe negative stereotypes to their own generation,â the study said.
The older the group, the more positively they saw themselves, the Pew study found.
For example, the so-called âSilent Generationâ â those ages 70-87 â overwhelmingly described themselves as hard-working, responsible and patriotic, at 83 percent, 78 percent and 73 percent respectively. The baby boomers were not far behind, picking those same three words to describe themselves, at 77 percent, 66 percent and 52 percent, respectively.
But the millennials and Gen Xers were not quite so positive about themselves: only 12 percent of the millennials and 26 percent of Generation X say they are patriotic; 24 percent of the millennials and 43 percent of the Gen Xers say theyâre responsible; and 36 percent of the millennials and 54 percent of Generation X say they are hard-working.
âENVIRONMENTALLY CONSCIOUSâ
In fact, the highest-ranking positive traits the millennials came up with for themselves were âenvironmentally consciousâ at 40 percent and âidealisticâ at 39 percent.
Many millennials donât even want to be identified as such, with 60 percent not considering themselves to be part of the âmillennial generation.â
Instead, 33 percent say they are part of Generation X.
The âSilent Generationâ also didnât want to identify with its generation. Like the millennials, only 18 percent of the Silent Generation considered themselves part of that group. Instead, more identified as being with the baby boomers at 34 percent or the older demographic âGreatest Generationâ at 34 percent.
Generational identity was strongest among the baby boomers, with 79 percent of those within the applicable age group identifying with the âbaby-boomâ generation.
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